August 4, 2025 at 4:18 PM EDT
'Can only push so far': MAGA loyalists 'fully betrayed' by latest Trump move

President Donald Trump ignited heavy criticism within his own MAGA camp on Monday, when reports emerged that his administration intends to penalize any U.S. state that chooses to boycott Israel. According to a Reuters report published early Monday afternoon, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has mandated that states applying for disaster preparedness grants must comply with its "terms and conditions."

August 4, 2025 at 3:56 PM EDT
'She is very very dumb': Fox News host mocked after flubbing basic civics lesson

Fox News host Lisa Kennedy Montgomery (also known as "Kennedy") recently committed a major on-air error, and is being roundly mocked for it on social media. On Monday, Kennedy was criticizing California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) over his proposal to allow California voters to decide this November whether to get rid of the Golden State's independent redistricting commission. Newsom floated the idea in response to Texas Republicans carrying out a mid-decade redistricting plan aiming to strip Democrats of five seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

August 4, 2025 at 3:44 PM EDT
Only in Trump's America would a breathtakingly irresponsible CEO get a $29 billion raise

Tesla announced today that it's granting additional shares to Elon Musk, worth around $29 billion. Tesla's board describes it as a "first step, 'good faith' payment" to Musk -- even as Tesla continues to battle in court over reinstating an even bigger pay package that a Delaware judge struck down. Why is this giant pay package necessary, you might ask, when Musk already holds 13 percent of the company, worth hundreds of billions?

August 4, 2025 at 12:07 PM EDT
'Sends a chill': Why Trump's policies are terrifying Wall Street

When the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) delivered disappointment employment news in the past, presidents -- from Ronald Reagan in the early 1980s to Barack Obama in 2009 and 2010 -- often responded by spinning the numbers but didn't attack the agency itself. However, President Donald Trump, angry because the BLS reported disappointing job growth for July 2025, fired BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer. And Trump's critics are vigorously defending McEntarfer, arguing that firing her is an example of shooting the messenger.

August 4, 2025 at 11:11 AM EDT
'Big mistake': Karl Rove warns Trump's policies will 'bite' GOP in the midterms

A Fox News poll released in late July found President Donald Trump's approval rating at 46 percent, and he is especially unpopular on economic issues. While respondents gave Trump 56 percent approval on "border security," he enjoyed only 36 percent support on "inflation" and "tariffs." Veteran GOP strategist and former George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove discussed those numbers during an early August appearance on Fox News and argued that Trump -- like former President Joe Biden -- is failing to connect with voters on the economy.

August 4, 2025 at 10:25 AM EDT
Top Trump adviser rejects 'rigged' numbers narrative

As controversy mounts over President Donald Trump's indiscriminate, unilateral firing of the Commissioner of Labor Statistics on Friday, his top economic adviser, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett""one of the administration's most visible defenders""appeared to break with the President's justification for the firing of Dr. Erika McEntarfer. After being reminded that the markets believed the Bureau of Labor Statistics' substantial downward revisions of numbers for April and May, wiping out a huge portion of any jobs gains, Hassett was asked: "Do you think we are starting to see a real slowdown in the jobs market?"

August 4, 2025 at 10:18 AM EDT
'Pathetic': How a key Trump ally embraces Christian nationalism's deeply 'racist' history

Long before President Donald Trump formed a close bond with far-right white Christian nationalists and promoted the conspiracy theory that former President Barack Obama was really born in Kenya instead of the United States, critics accused the religious right of being racist. The Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr., founder of the Moral Majority, was a staunch defender of segregation and Jim Crow laws during the 1950s and 1960s -- although he later reversed that position.

August 4, 2025 at 9:04 AM EDT
'This woman is a joke': Nancy Mace announcement draws blistering response

Early Monday morning, August 4, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina) posted a video to her website announcing that she is running for governor of South Carolina. The "Nancy Mace For Governor" video contains a collage of Fox News appearances painting the GOP congresswoman as an aggressive fighter for President Donald Trump's "America First" agenda and the far-right MAGA movement. Mace, with this announcement, joins a GOP gubernatorial primary field that also includes State Attorney General Alan Wilson, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-South Carolina) and State Sen. Josh Kimbrell.

August 4, 2025 at 6:08 AM EDT
'This special session is over': Texas Dems thwart Trump-led plot against democracy

To prevent Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott and his fellow GOP lawmakers in the state from holding a vote Monday that has been described as a direct assault on voting rights ahead of the 2026 midterms, members of the Texas House Democratic Caucus on Sunday reportedly fled the state in order to delay passage of the legislation. "This is not a decision we make lightly, but it is one we make with absolute moral clarity," said state Rep. Gene Wu, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, in a statement, in which he accused Gov. Greg Abbott of "using an intentionally racist map to steal the voices of millions of Black and Latino Texans, all to execute a corrupt political deal" with President Donald Trump that would see voting districts across the state redrawn in order to benefit Republicans in next year's elections.

August 4, 2025 at 5:57 AM EDT
The Trump admin just gave Texas megachurch pastors more power than ever

Texas Rep. Nate Schatzline recently stood before a gathering of conservative activists just outside Fort Worth, recapping legislative wins and previewing what's next at the Capitol. On this day, however, he was speaking not only as a lawmaker but also as a pastor. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.

August 3, 2025 at 2:05 PM EDT
'Done everything they can to avoid hearing from' us: Veteran interrupts GOP celebration in Florida

What was billed as a high-profile gathering of conservative leadership quickly turned contentious when roughly half a dozen credentialed protestors stormed Gov. Ron DeSantis' (R) speech at the Republican Party of Florida's Florida Freedom Forum , held at the Rosen Shingle Creek Saturday. "Nobody was interrupted more than DeSantis," according to a report by Florida Phoenix.

August 3, 2025 at 2:01 PM EDT
'Trump's little errand boys': Ex-Republican warns GOP 'looking for a cheat code' in midterms

Former Republican and founder of The Lincoln Project Rick Wilson on Sunday delivered a stark warning for Democrats as Texas Republicans work to change the state's congressional map to provide President Donald Trump with more reliably red districts. "Republicans are looking for a cheat code for the 2026 election," Wilson explained on MSNBC. "They recognize already they're in deep trouble in a lot of these House districts across the country that are contested seats. They are now looking for a way to cheat on this." "As a former Republican, I will tell you, the 'Just Win, Baby' rule is the first and only rule," he continued. "If the Democrats do not go into this and think, 'We're going to have to have a countervailing amount of new seats in other states,' they're insane They will get their heads handed to them."